A communications standard, Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ah, is being developed for sensor networks and stations (STAs) in such sensor networks that require a power save mode of operation to, e.g., conserve battery power. IEEE 802.11ac uses partial bits of Association IDentifiers (AIDs) assigned to STAs in the physical layer (PHY) signal (SIG) to decrease power consumption of data frame reception. In a 1 mega-Hertz (MHz) Basic Service Set (BSS), however, there is no provision for transmission of only a partial AID in the PHY SIG. When an Access Point (AP) does not change the management information of the corresponding BSS, the associated STAs do not need to receive the whole beacon; instead, only time synchronization information and a Traffic Indication Map (TIM) information are required to the STA to operate with improved power conservation.
There is, therefore, a need in the art for improved power saving mechanisms in using wireless network connections.